Watermelon, Radish, Cabbage Salad with Balsamic Sage Mustard Vinaigrette

Most people think of Sage as that taste you save for Thanksgiving but Sage is Forking delicious in salads too! This salad is very light, has texture to it and is full of flavor.  The peppery common Red Radishes go really well with the watermelon and dressing. For BEST results eat right away. The more the watermelon sits in the salad the texture and taste disappear.

Ingredients for Balsamic Sage Mustard Vinaigrette.

1 Tablespoon Whipped Roasted Garlic

4 Tablespoons Mustard (I used 2 Tablespoons my own recipe of Mild Mustard (back a few recipes) and 2 Tablespoons Dijon)

1/3 Cup Canola Oil

3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Ground Sage

1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

2 Tablespoons Sugar

Mix the garlic real well with the mustard and slowly add the oil and emulsify slowly stir in other ingredients.

Watermelon, Radish,  Cabbage Salad

ingredients

About 2 Cups Watermelon in the shape you want

About 1 1/2 Cup Shredded Radish

About 1 Cup Shredded Cabbage

About 1/3 Cup thin Sliced Sweet Onion

a Handful of Flat Leaf Parsley Leaves

Combine all ingredients with the Balsamic Sage Mustard Vinaigrette

Watermelon, Radish, Cabbage Salad with Balsamic Sage  Mustard Vinaigrette

A light but full flavored salad. Perfect for anytime of year.

Forking Good!

Rye Flat Bread

You almost need to be a Forking Master Baker to bake a “real Delicious Rye Bread” because it truly isn’t the easiest bread to bake. Luckily you can bake some forking delicious Rye Flat Bread if you know what to put in it. My recipe produces a soft Rye Flatbread that taste like the crust part of Rye Bread.

Ingredients (set oven to 400 degrees)

1 Cup Rye Flour

1/4 Cup Corn Meal

1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 Tablespoon Canola Oil

Maybe a Tablespoon or two of Caraway Seeds

1/2 Cup Dill Pickle Brine (preferably home made)

Fresh Crushed Sea Salt

a small amount of Semolina Flour

and More Caraway Seeds about 1-2 Tablespoons

Combine all ingredients except for Fresh Crushed Sea Salt, Semolina Four, and maybe 1-2 Tablespoons Caraway Seeds. Mix well and Form in a thick log shape

and place on parchment paper and use more parchment paper so the dough doesn’t stick to your rolling pin.

Roll real thin like a Tortilla and remove the above Parchment Paper. Place lower parchment Paper with Flat Dough on a baking sheet.

Now sprinkle with Fresh Crushed Sea Salt, a small amount of Semolina Flour, and More Caraway Seeds. Press them into dough so they stay.

After about 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven you will have this.

Rye Flat Bread

Forking Good and Forking Easy! You don’t have to be a Master Baker to Bake Rye Flatbread.

Forking Good!

Asian Inspired Chicken Salad

Asian Inspired Chicken Salad happens to be a very low fat recipe because instead of Mayo or Oil we are using White Miso as the base for the dressing. White Miso is made from Soybeans that are nearly forking fat free.

Ingredients (for two meals)

Around 6 oz. of fresh roasted cleaned up Chicken (I used cleaned whole legs)

1 Shredded Radish

1/2 or one small Shredded Carrot

About 3 Tablespoons Fine Chopped Onions (or Scallions)

About 3 Tablespoons Shredded Cabbage

About 2 Tablespoons Fresh Chopped Cilantro

Juice from one small but very juicy Lime

1 Tablespoon Minced Ginger Root

1 teaspoon Roasted Whipped Garlic

1 teaspoon low sodium Soy Sauce

2 teaspoons Rice Vinegar

1/2 or a very small Thai Chili Minced

1 Tablespoon White Miso

1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions

In one bowl combine the Chicken, Radish, Carrot, Onion, Cabbage, and Cilantro and mix well.

In another bowl Combine all the remaining ingredients the liquids, Garlic, Ginger, Thai Chili, Miso and Sugar.

Mix them both together and the salad is ready to serve.

This Asian Inspired Chicken Salad goes forking well with the previous recipe “Asian Inspired Flatbread”

Forking Truth

Asian Inspired Crispy Flatbread

I was thinking about the Wasabi and Ginger Flavors and thought they’d be good in a crispy style bread. The Wasabi flavor and Ginger flavor just mellow and turn tasty with the sesame seed topping. The recipe is very quick and very easy to prepare.

Set your oven at 375 degrees the recipe makes one  Tasty flatbread.

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 Cup Corn meal

1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic

about 1 1/2 long Ginger grated

2 teaspoons Wasabi Powder

1/2 Cup Water

About 4 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds

Fresh Crushed Sea Salt

Directions

Mix well and roll all ingredients (except for sesame seeds and sea salt) in a ball.

Now sprinkle with your sesame seeds and make it into an oblong

and place on a slightly oiled silicone mat topped with slightly oiled parchment paper and with your rolling pin try to make it into a rectangle shape to fit your pan. It will come out best if you roll it as thin as a tortilla. Lift off the parchment paper and sprinkle with fresh crushed Sea Salt.

Just lift up your silicone mat and place on a pan lined with parchment paper to catch anything that flows.

Bake about 18 minutes till it looks like this.

Then flip it and brown the underside for about 3 minutes.

When cool break and you will have this.

This turned out to be a very delicious tasty flatbread that anybody would like. The Ginger and Wasabi flavors mellowed very much and just turned tasty. The sesame seeds and sea salt just tie it all together.

Forking Truth

White Sonora Berries Salad in Dijon Sage Vinaigrette

I got some beautiful LOCAL Sonora Berries (1.5 lb. bag) so I thought I’d make a tasty salad.  I think Dijon Sage Vinaigrette goes really well with sun dried tomatoes. I have made other salads with these flavors and most people seem to like it.

First I soaked the berries over night and the next day I drained and rinsed them.

Before I cooked the White Sonora Berries I made the Dijon Sage Vinaigrette.

1 Tablespoon Roasted Whipped Garlic

4 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

1/3 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Ground Sage

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 Tablespoon Sugar

Mix the garlic and mustard really well and then add the oil slowly till it emulsifies. Slowly stir in the rest and mix it up as best as you can.

Cover and set in refrigerator.

Now take your soaked Sonora Berries and rinse.

Then I put them in my sauce pot and added maybe twice as much water, maybe a tablespoon of Kosher Salt, about 15 twist of fresh ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, one sweet onion and one carrot both cut in half to flavor the berries. (the onion and carrot get tossed out after the berries are cooked. The vegetables are only used to add flavor to the Sonora Berries.

I brought this pot to a boil, then covered and turned down to a simmer. I think it took 45 minutes to be done. When it’s done remove and throw out the onion and carrot. when it’s still warm add the Dijon Sage Vinaigrette so the flavor can soak in.

Now add.

about 1/2 Cup Sweet Onions Chopped

1 1/2 Cup Beans

3.5 oz. Sun dried  Tomatoes Chopped (only if they are soft)

1 red bell pepper chopped fine

1 handful chopped parsley (add last after everything else or just before serving)

Mix and then Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Forking Good!

If you find yourself with a bunch of peppers that are forking too hot to consume you can always make them into Forking Hot Sauce and Forking Hot Ketchup. The Cool Thing is you can start off the two sauces from one pot.

Ingredients

6 Roasted, cleaned and seeded Bell Peppers and the golden sweet juice they release from roasting. (for sweetness)

Around 12 oz. of Roasted Serrano Chilies Cleaned

Around 1 lb. 11 oz. Hot Hatch Chili’s Roasted Pealed if you can and seeded

1 apple pealed, cored and chopped

Juice from 1 Lime

3 Garlic Cloves smashed fine

3 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Cups Water

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne

1/2 teaspoon white ground pepper

(for making the Ketchup afterwards you need )

1 Cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

Pinch Cloves

Directions

Dice up all the peppers place in pot and add rest of ingredients and blend.

It will look sort of like this.

Bring to boil and let simmer at least an hour.

Then use a strainer and separate the sauce.

Take your thick sauce and turn it into Ketchup.

Place Thick Sauce back in your sauce pan and add 1 cup of white sugar, 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce and a pinch of Ground Cloves. Bring to boil and let simmer about an hour. Place in a clean container. You can blend it smoother if you want to.

Back to Hot Green Sauce.

Put your thin green sauce back in your sauce pan and bring to boil and turn down to a slower boil and let it reduce to maybe a third from where you started.

The Green Hot Pepper Ketchup almost had a fruit taste to it I think it would be really good with lighter meats. It’s spicy but not forking spicy.

The Roasted Hot Green Sauce gives you that roasted pepper taste at first and then gives you a big fat punch of forking spicy heat.

Forking Good!

It only takes minutes to prepare a delicious and light Spelt Veggie Flat Bread. This is forking easy and anyone can make this flatbread.

Spelt Veggie Flatbread

Ingredients for the Flatbread (this recipe makes two quarter flat pan flat breads and will serve 4-8 people) Set Oven at 450 degrees

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Cup Spelt Flour

1 Cup Water

about 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

Mix well

and pat flat on a slightly canola sprayed pan. Arrange your vegetables. (I used Zucchini, Onion, Corn, Heirloom Tomatoes and Shishito Peppers)

At this point you pop the pan in your 450 degree oven and it’s cooked in 10 minutes.

Now you add cheese if you want cheese. (I used Brie and it was delicious) You season with fresh crushed Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper and drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Glaze and Pop back in the oven till cheese just melts.

Quick! and Very Easy to make! The spelt flour lightens up the dough and also makes for a more flavorful almost nutty tasting dough. This Flatbread got inhaled really forking fast. Yours will too.

Spelt Veggie Flat Bread

So Quick, Easy and Forking Delicious! Spelt Veggie Flatbread.

Forking Good!

I had these beautiful tomatoes and noticed the forking tomatoes looked similar to the cover of my magazine. But they also had those pretty purple sprouts and forking micro greens.

So I thought I’d try out the Tomato, Onion and Roasted Lemon Recipe. I thought the edible sugar roasted and herbed lemons sounded interesting and thought to myself I could easily also do the same with limes and create a similar but different salad.

Tomato, Onion and Roasted Lemon Salad

I do note other people might not feel the way I did about the Tomato, Onion and Roasted Lemon Salad.

I did the cover  recipe and just found out I FORKING HATE Pomegranate Molasses or I hate the bottled Pomegranate Molasses I used anyway. The magazine recipe includes pomegranate molasses. I LOVE pomegranates and had no forking idea that pomegranate molasses can taste exactly like forking cough syrup. That red sweet tart sort of taste is really nauseating to me. The whole salad tasted forking terrible to me even with all the spices added. It was that cough syrup, mint, sage,allspice and almost bitter lemon.  The tomatoes taste laced with cough syrup. For me these flavors were terrible together. I’m thinking the recipe might have some forking typo errors. I can’t forking stomach it BUT I do note other people might enjoy it.

It was pretty easy to do another salad using the same method to cook the citrus. So I created another salad that looks similar but with flavors that forking taste good together to me.

The recipe is pretty easy.

Tomato, Hibiscus, Onion and Roasted Lime Salad

1 Lime Washed and sliced very thin with seeds removed (ignore the lemons in the picture, I used them for the other recipe)

About 3 Tablespoons Fresh Cleaned chopped Cilantro

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (1Tbsp & 1Tbsp)

1 Tablespoon Hibiscus Syrup

3 Hibiscus Flowers torn

1 Slightly Spicy Pepper sliced thin (I used a Shishito but a fresno or banana pepper would be just as good)

1 Garlic Clove mashed or crushed fine

Around a pound of small Heirloom Tomatoes sliced up.

About 1/4 sweet onion sliced thin

About 2 Tablespoons of Roasted Watermelon seeds (Pumpkin would also be very good)

Fresh Crushed Sea Salt and Black Pepper

Set your oven at 325 degrees

Boil your limes for 2 minutes to remove bitterness, drain and pat dry.

Toss lime slices with I Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 Tablespoon Chopped Cilantro and Sugar. Line your citrus on a parchment lined pan and bake the limes 15-20 minutes till they seem dry.

Mix I Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil with garlic and Hibiscus Syrup till well combined. Add all your remaining ingredients and Season with Fresh Ground Sea Salt and Black Pepper.

Tomato, Onion, and Roasted Lime Salad

I thought the salad was good this way but then I kicked it up adding some Hibiscus Flowers to add more balance to the lime, A thinly sliced Shishito Pepper, and Roasted Watermelon Seeds. The salad is forking complete now.

Tomato, Hibiscus, Onion and Roasted Lime Salad

Forking Good!

I’m full of forking Zucchini and I know you can make pickles with zucchini so I thought I’d make India Style Relish since they don’t forking sell any in my part of Arizona. This relish comes out full flavored and not so sweet.  If you like your relish on the sweet side  you will need to add more sugar.  I also recommend to let it sit for a day for the flavors to settle.

Ingredients

About a 1 pound Zucchini grated

1 red Bell Pepper Diced

1 Greenish Bell Pepper Diced (Mine was Green Yellow)

1 Sweet onion grated

2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt

2 Cups White Vinegar

6 Tablespoons Sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon clove

1/2 teaspoon Allspice

2 Tablespoons Mustard Seeds

Forking easy directions

Dump all your veggies in your sauce pot with vinegar and half your seasonings.

Now blend it up with your blender wand a little.

Bring to boil and then turn down to a little more than a simmer and let it go till it’s about at desired consistency. (that will take 1 1/2 hour – 2 hours.)

Taste it and decide if you want to add a little more seasoning from your mixture.  I used about 1/2 of what was left. (The rest might be really good to coat a burger with)

EASY India Style Relish (made from zucchini SHsssssss)

Forking Good!

Home made mustard is forking easy to make. You can use higher quality more flavorful vinegars and spices to make your unique blend. You can also play with the texture depending on how you cut (excuse the forking bad pun) or blend the mustard.

I studied over a half dozen different recipes posted on the web and forking came up with my own adding some of my own ideas that’s a little more layered with flavors and I like the popping texture of leaving the seeds whole.

Ingredients

5 Tablespoons Mustard Seeds (I only had yellow but a mix of different ones would be interesting. (I do note using all yellow seeds will produce a mild mustard and you do need the darker colors for a more bold mustard flavor.

1 Tablespoon Mustard Powder

1/4 Cup Sherry

1/3 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Tablespoons (my recipe) Roasted Garlic Spread (Covered Garlic Roasted with a Splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil for an Hour and Whipped)

Roasted Garlic Spread

1/4 teaspoon Ground White Pepper

6 crushed Juniper Berries

Small pinch of Allspice (be careful with this one)

2 Normal Pinches of Espelette Pepper Powder

Maybe 5 Turns of Fresh Ground Sea Salt

Between 5-10 turns of Fresh Ground Black Pepper

You just forking mix and let sit in the refrigerator a day but two days would be better.

It will look sort of like this.

It takes a day to look like this and is a little on the thin side.

At this point it will thicken up a little more if you can wait another forking day (that’s a total of two days the next day it DID look perfect) or you can blend it up to your liking. Blending will thicken the mustard.

Home Made Mustard it’s Something you might Relish!

Forking Good!